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Five Elderly People Stabbed to Death in Japan: Reports

A blood-covered 40-year-old was arrested after five people were stabbed to death in western Japan, local media reported on Monday.
Image: JAPAN-CRIME
No Entry tape surrounds a site where a man stabbed five people to death at Sumoto city in Awajishima island, Hyogo prefecture, western Japan on Monday. JIJI PRESS / AFP - Getty Images

TOKYO, Japan — A blood-covered 40-year-old was arrested after five people were stabbed to death in western Japan, local media reported on Monday.

One man and two women between the ages of 60 and 80 were found in one house in the town of Sumoto, according to Mainichi Shinbum newspaper. Another elderly couple in their 80s were spotted in another building around 330 feet away, the newspaper added.

Local police identified the suspect as Tatsuhiko Hirano.

Officials would not disclose any additional information. However, Mainichi Shinbum and other newspapers cited police sources as saying that the suspect and all the victims were related.

Image: Police officers investigate stabbing deaths in Sumoto, Japan
Police officers investigate the fatal stabbings of five people in Sumoto, Japan, on Monday.JIJI PRESS / AFP - Getty Images

— Arata Yamamoto